Project Runway Rundown: Just For Men

Who knew that with no new episodes of "The Office" (and "30 Rock", "Ugly Betty" and "Scrubs" running out soon), "Project Runway" would be the place to go for high comedy?

Last night's menswear challenge featured the absolute fashions ever shown on this program (and maybe anywhere). I loved the fact that the word "menswear" struck fear into the hearts of the gay boy and girl designers the same way people in Harry Potter are afraid to say "Voldemort."

When the designers found out they'd be designing a three-piece outfit for ex-NFL running back and Today Show correspondent Tiki Barber to wear on the air, the reactions were predictable, but no less funny. A few of the guys swooned how "gorgeous" he was, and Kevin, the straight guy in case you weren't listening the first dozen times, seemed to be the only guy who knew who the hell Tiki was.

Now obviously, I'm not a designer and I couldn't sew my way out of a wet paper bag. I also understand that designing for men is different than designing for women (I DID go to college). But is it really THAT different that only a handful of contestants managed to not design and construct embarrassingly bad ensembles and the rest appeared to be living through their worst nightmare?

At least the gay boys and girls got a brief break from hell when the male models they'd be working with for the week arrived. Other than the swooning from the boys, my favorite part was that the kookiest thing Elisa did this week was turn her back while her model undressed because she has a boyfriend, and that boyfriend is the only one she fits intimately. Hokay.

Predictable, a lot of the outfits were unfinished and in some cases (Carmen's shirt, Jack's jacket) entire pieces were left undone. That didn't stop Carmen from drooping a scarf around her model and fashioning a dicky to make up for his lack of shirt. Seriously. Stop by the gallery and check out some of these monstrosities.

The runway show was one for the ages, lowlighted by Sweet P's trainwreck of a collar and ridiculously oversized tie, Carmen's members only jacket monstrosity, and Ricky's droopy, oversized and boring suit. The highlights for the judges were Jack's simple striped shirt and pant, which I thought was simultaneously too simple and WAY too busy, I preferred Kit's casual, yet stylish ensemble, and even Kevin's vest and purple shirt because, like Tiki, I'm not afraid of colors.

Almost as entertaining as the outfits themselves were the judges facial expressions (impossible to reproduce on here) and comments, including Tiki (pictured, with Nina Garcia) complaining that he would look like a fool if he wore Ricky's outfit on TV, and that he didn't want to go on TV and look like an idiot after checking out Sweet P's creation.

In the end, I'm glad the judges spared Sweet P, who is fun and funny ("this is by far the worst thing I've ever designed). Mostly I was surprised they dumped Carmen (the stronger reality show contestant, in favor of Ricky, who's now made two appearances in the bottom three and is one episode away from a full-blown meltdown.

So what'd you think of this episode? What was the point of having Tiki's wife come in, other than prompting Christian (who's too-cool for this competish act is starting to get annoying) to randomly proclaim that "Asians are FIERCE!"? Why do you think Heidi Klum hates the color purple on men so much? What was more sketchy? Jack using his own pants for the pattern, or the other two contestants' piggy backing off of his pattern? (I say the latter). Finally, since they brought up the fact that ridiculously in-shape Jack is HIV positive, how long till that somehow becomes an issue? Two weeks? Three?